Shed money Clio 172

[PhillipM]

As silly as it sounds smaller exhaust tips clamped/welded on can remove a huge amount of boominess from some systems. Might be worth a shot since they're clamped on from the look of that PM one.

I only took my tiny y-splitter pipe off my backbox on the 406 to weld new tips on and it's twice as loud and boomy in the car with the 2.5" exit straight out the back at the moment

[Cambs_Stuart]

Fifty said:

Hmmm, no idea on mounts to be honest.

Where's the best place to add sound deadening - the boot floor?

Yes, the boot floor and under the rear seat. Dynamat and Noico dampen vibrations, so you don't need perfectly cut sections, just slap some down. Any large flat surface will benefit from it.
If you look under the bumper, people often use solid (usually red or purple) poly urethane inserts in the exhaust mounts. They last much longer than OEM, help prevent the exhaust hitting the sub-frame but the downside is more noise.

They looks like this on a 182:

Edited by Cambs_Stuart on Tuesday 27th February 12:30

[Fifty]

Thanks Stuart - I'll have a look. Not sure if Alex would have changed them when he fitted the new exhaust.

Dynamat (or an equivalent) sounds like it might be worth a go as well, given it'll be a lot cheaper than another exhaust.

Just got my daughter to drive it away from the house and whilst it's loudish from the outside under load, it's not awful - think it just seems to be a bit droney inside the cabin.

[Fifty]

PhillipM said:

As silly as it sounds smaller exhaust tips clamped/welded on can remove a huge amount of boominess from some systems. Might be worth a shot since they're clamped on from the look of that PM one.

I only took my tiny y-splitter pipe off my backbox on the 406 to weld new tips on and it's twice as loud and boomy in the car with the 2.5" exit straight out the back at the moment

Looks welded to me but I'm no expert!

I've got the stealth tip - still 2.5" but turns down, rather than straight out.

[PhillipM]

I was probably looking at the wrong system on google then it looked like clamp on tips on that one

[Cambs_Stuart]

A probably unnecessary bit of maintenance on the clio. All things working out i should have my first trackday of the year a week today, back at Bedford.

As the engine oil is only a few weeks and a couple of hundred miles old i changed the gearbox oil for some Elf OEM.




The old oil looked fine, still golden and lump free but for the sake of £40 and a dowty washer it's probably good to change it frequently, especially as parts to refurb boxes are getting hard to obtain.
Doing a quick nut and bolt check i noticed the pads only have about 4mm left, so now I'm debating a quick pad a disc change next weekend. Those PFC pads, despite the huge amount of dust they produce, have been fantastic. I think I've got 15 track days out of them...

[Kaveney]

Good call on the gearbox oil and for the cost it is well worth doing .

Im at Bedford a few weeks later on the 29/03/24 and cant wait .

[Cambs_Stuart]

Pad and disc change before Bedford on Monday.
To honest, I'd been dreading this. The discs were fairly new when I get the car in 2019, but they've seen a lot of high temperatures, road salt and aggressive PFC pads.
This is what I was worried about:

My concerns were justified. On each side one retaining bolt was really stuck.
Despite heat, several smacks with a hammer and some penetrating oil I broke a T40 bit, with no hint of movement.
(Yes, I know I shouldn't be using 3/8 chrome bits on an impact).


I was sorely tempted to give up. But the discs were only 22 mm thick (minimum thickness 21.8).

So I got out a carbide drill bit, drilled the screw, jammed an extractor in and voila, just like it does on YouTube, it came out:



Both sides:



Very satisfying.
The discs weren't stuck to the hubs, so the rest was easy:



Lots of ceramic anti seize to stop this happening again in five years.

Once the pads were out I had a good look. On the inner pad on both sides the friction material was starting to crack and separate from the backing.



And one inner disc face had a good smear of pickup all the way round.



So, despite the struggles, I'm really glad I did this before Monday!
New loadout is brembo high carbon discs with mintex M1155 pads.

Edited by Cambs_Stuart on Sunday 10th March 09:39

[gweaver]

You were braver than me with the screw extractor. I kept drilling through with larger bits until the shaft was gone and only the thread was left. Good outcome though!

[sam.rog]

In future this impact screwdriver thing is brilliant for getting those screws out.
https://www.halfords.com/tools/hand-tools/screwdri...

[Cambs_Stuart]

gweaver said:

You were braver than me with the screw extractor. I kept drilling through with larger bits until the shaft was gone and only the thread was left. Good outcome though!

That would have been the plan if the extractor hadn't worked. Drill out the section holding the disc in then get some tools on the bit attached to the hub.

[Cambs_Stuart]

sam.rog said:

In future this impact screwdriver thing is brilliant for getting those screws out.
https://www.halfords.com/tools/hand-tools/screwdri...

I've actually got one of those! Completely forgot about it.

[gweaver]

Cambs_Stuart said:

That would have been the plan if the extractor hadn't worked.

The risk with the extractor is that you break it and then have to drill or grind through it. They're very hard, unlike the disk retaining bolts.

I shattered a couple of poor quality drill bits in the bolt, but fortunately I'd already gone through with a 2.5mm or 3mm bit, and was able to punch the broken bits out from behind.
Decent quality cobalt bits are the way forward.

[Cambs_Stuart]

gweaver said:

Cambs_Stuart said:

That would have been the plan if the extractor hadn't worked.

The risk with the extractor is that you break it and then have to drill or grind through it. They're very hard, unlike the disk retaining bolts.

I shattered a couple of poor quality drill bits in the bolt, but fortunately I'd already gone through with a 2.5mm or 3mm bit, and was able to punch the broken bits out from behind.
Decent quality cobalt bits are the way forward.

When I was doing it I was hoping the extractor wouldn't break for that exact reason.

[Cambs_Stuart]

Track day time! Back at Bedford.
It was a cold and damp day, so I went with the gold wheels and pilot sports. Which was definitely the correct choice as there was lots of standing water early in the morning. Ideally I'd have swapped to my AD08s in the afternoon when it was drier, but they didn't hold me back too much.
The M1155s are definitely not as good as the PFC pads they take longer to warm up, and also overheat more quickly, 25 minutes was generally as long as I could stay out before they were fading.
But the track time was brilliant. Very few flags all day, and I had a lot of fun with a silver type R, a black 306 GTI6, various MX5 and other Renault sports.
Shame I've got to go back to work tomorrow...



300 miles in total during the day (including travel to and from the track) and 25 mpg averaged. Yet again, the clio didn't miss a beat.

[Cambs_Stuart]

On the trackday I met a very nice chap from beaniesport who was having a lot of fun in an RS twingo. He was very impressed by my late/non braking, until he realized I had no working brake lights.
No spares on the day and none in the nearby petrol stations, so I've replaced them all today.
The real fun was cleaning out all he grime and cobwebs from the nooks and crannies I don't normally see:



Looking at the pictures from javelin I also had a side light bulb out:



This was less fun to access as the back of the headlights is behind coolant and AC pipes.



Fortunately my hands aren't very big!

Edited by Cambs_Stuart on Friday 15th March 14:08

[Cambs_Stuart]

I've also been thinking about the long term with the Clio. Eldest son is 17 this year, and is desperate to learn to drive, he loves carting, we've also done a few "Young Driver" sessions.
I don't really have space for three cars, and I'm really attached to the clio, so I wondered how much it would be to insure him as a 17 year old with no NCB:



Not sure a black box is going to make much of a dent in that...

[Turbojuice]

Great read this! Keep the posts coming

Just a note on the oil as I saw your comment regarding your oil going dark and smelly quickly, and noticed you've been using C3 spec oils. C3 spec is designed to be compatible with modern cars that have exhaust filters like DPFs or OPFs/GPFs. They do this by reducing the amount of SAPS (Sulphated Ash, Phosphorous, Sulphur) additives in the oil. These are performance enhancers, and help prevent thermal breakdown of the oil, among other things.

The alternative is A3/B4 spec. This has a higher level of SAPS than C3 and it's what your car would've been filled with from factory. You may find A3/B4 spec holds up better to track work. My personal recommendation would be Motul xcess gen2, but in reality any which carry the Renault approval will be fine. Fuchs do one also which I've ran before on track and had no problems.

[Cambs_Stuart]

Turbojuice said:

Great read this! Keep the posts coming

Just a note on the oil as I saw your comment regarding your oil going dark and smelly quickly, and noticed you've been using C3 spec oils. C3 spec is designed to be compatible with modern cars that have exhaust filters like DPFs or OPFs/GPFs. They do this by reducing the amount of SAPS (Sulphated Ash, Phosphorous, Sulphur) additives in the oil. These are performance enhancers, and help prevent thermal breakdown of the oil, among other things.

The alternative is A3/B4 spec. This has a higher level of SAPS than C3 and it's what your car would've been filled with from factory. You may find A3/B4 spec holds up better to track work. My personal recommendation would be Motul xcess gen2, but in reality any which carry the Renault approval will be fine. Fuchs do one also which I've ran before on track and had no problems.

That's really interesting, thanks for the comment. I've just been back and checked, and you're right both, the Castrol and the Fuchs are C3 spec. While I'm always careful to make sure the oils meet RN710, I hadn't previously thought about the APEC spec. Next time I change the oil I'll make sure I go for A3 or B4.

[Pincher]

Fifty said:

Apologes for Stuart for slightly hijacking his thread but I thought this might be the best place to ask - I got my exhaust replaced (by Alex at AW) for a Pure Motorsport cat back last year but I just find it a bit too boomy for me - Alex did say it would be louder than stock but not as loud as a KTR, so no blame apportioned there but I just don't really get on with it.

Are there any alternatives that are closer to stock in terms of sound? Can you even get OEM any more rather that patent?

Well, I bought some Noico mat but never got round to fitting it before I bit the bullet and changed the exhaust. Off with the Pure Motorsport and on with a Klarius centre and rear section - the difference is like night and day and very glad I've changed it back to something approaching OEM.

If anyone needs/wants a cheap PM catback exhaust with about 500 miles under it's belt, let me know!